December 2 - Stop – You’re both right!

Read today’s texts first: Romans 9-12

MAXIMize YOUR DAY

God chooses and so do we -
it’s not "either/or" but "both/and"!

Working in a Bible College with students and faculty from over 20 different church groups helped me understand and appreciate divergent viewpoints.  One is the Calvinist/Arminian spectrum, embracing the sovereignty of God and the free-will of man.  This section of Romans helps us understand that it’s not one or the other – they are both true.  Some tensions are just supposed to be there (eg. justice and mercy, faith and works).

God is sovereign and He chooses, as in the illustration of Jacob and Esau (9:16-18).  This was intended to help the Jews (who were like the Calvinists of that day thinking they were the only chosen ones) understand that God could sovereignly include the Gentiles as children of promise (25,26), calling those who were not His people to become sons of the living God.  But God’s choice accounts for man’s choice to accept or reject His provision (9:33; 10:9, 11-17).  The grafting, cutting off and regrafting of chapter 11 (12,15, 20-23) are all dependent on man’s free choice.

“Lord, I am so glad You are not limited by our theological attempts to understand You.  We do know that You have chosen us because of Your unconditional love for us.  But we also know that for love to be reciprocated there must be the ability to choose to respond.  I choose to believe both of those statements are true and I choose You!”